YOUNG HUNTER SIDE VICTORIOUS AGAINST CENTRAL COAST

District Captain Dave Parkinson continued his youth youth policy for the annual match against Central Coast at Morissett on Sunday 28 April, 2013, and came up trumps again, in a nail biting finish.

The Hunter side snuck home by a single match, 9½ - 8½, in a nail biting finish which sees the Artie Mollett Shield return to the Hunter after a 4 year drought.

Hero for the District was junior Josh Stig. Coming to the last hole, he held a 1up lead. At that stage all other matches were in the clubhouse, and the score was all tied up. Standing on the last tee the pressure was placed fairly on his shoulders, to at worst halve the hole. Showing composure beyond his years, he calmly parred the hole, to halve it with a par and record a much needed win against Logan Salvador.

Overall the juniors halved their division 3 matches apiece. The Muswellbrook connection, Stubbsie Benkovic & Billy Fenton won 2 up & 3/2 to record comfortable victories, whilst Josh Udbinac, Zac Pryor and Oscar Field were all early showers.

The Seniors were the backbone of the match with a 4½ - 1½, win. Leading the way was Brent Watson, who gave former Hunter player Dave "Killer" Morgan a 4/3 lesson. Playing at number two, in his first rep match Andrew Auld returned a square result  in his match, a creditable performance. Josh Knott knocked his approach shot to the 18th green to within 30cms to secure a 1up win.

The remaining matches were the "young guns". Reigning country champion Nathan Waters had a 2/1 win, in a close match, Dylan Perry blitzed his opponent 6/5. After the opening 9 holes Dylan was 7up due to a 5 under par, 30.

Tom Bateman, was seriously unlucky in his match going down by 1 hole.

In the Colts division the Hunter boys won 2 - 1. sMac Dawson carried a football injury into the match and was accordingly butt smacked, to the tune of 6/5 by Jason Butt. Will Barnett went about his golf in his usual quiet manner and recorded a 1up win, He was backed up by Blake Palmer, in his first rep match, winning by a 4/3 margin.

The Masters team of Derek Field, Jeff Harrington & Steve Morse were all soundly beaten. Credit to these players who put their hands up at the 11th hour, when selected players opted to represent their Club in the Masters Pennant series, rather than play for the District.

NEWCASTLE VICTORIOUS AGAIN

Newcastle retained the PR West Shield for the umpteenth time when they were victorious over the District rep side, at Waratah Golf Club.

In the Masters division both teams were depleted  due to the final round of Masters pennants, Newcastle having to call on their old stagers in Frank Musgrave, Tony "Bones" Jones and Ian Barton, who proved too strong. Bryan Gulliver lost the last three holes to lose his match 1 down, to Frank Musgrave, Andrew Hamilton lost 2 & 1 to Ian Barton and Stan Grzanka, making a comeback to rep golf after a 40 year absence finished square with Bones Jones after he three putted the last hole.

In the "good golfers" division Brent Watson just returned from the US Open, was untroubled by Josh Greenwood, winning 6 & 4, after an opening drive akin to Ian Bakers famous snap hook at St Andrews. That's where the good news finished.  Chad Vesper  up against former Hunter player Mark Hale went down 4 & 3, Andrew Haigh thumped Fluff Clark 6 & 5, whilst the Singleton connection of Glen Marcheff & Matthew Dicks were beaten by the same margin of 5 & 4, by Greg McMillan (former Hunter player) and Justin Ely. Simon Dillon had a creditable draw against Mick Dundas.

The Hunter Colts went down 3 blot, but took their opponents to the very end. Tom Bateman lost to Daniel Buyers 2 & 1, Matt Hopley, playing his last match as a Colt lost on the last hole to Craig Avery, as did Adrian Chomiszak against Matt Kirkwood.

The Hunter juniors were too strong for the Newcastle boys, with strong wins and without the upsets as reported in the Newcastle Herald. Dylan Perry and Brayden Petersen, both State players had a tremendous tussle, going the full distance, where Brayden flubbed his approach shot short of the green, to allow Dylan to seize the initiative and the match. Hayden Gulliver & Hamish Menz fought out a draw as did Benny Stokes against Joe D'Arcy. Brady Benkovic was 2 down at the turn and held on to go down on the final hole to Isaiah Melia. Jack Clark, playing his second District match had an excellent 2 & 1 win over Will Arnold. Joel Troy,  was never headed by Ben Robertson to win 4 & 2. A quick visit by Joel to Darby's pie shop at the ninth tee (two pies and a sausage roll) provided Joel with the necessary sustenance to maintain his halfway lead of 4 up.

ARTIE MOLLETT SHIELD - played at Springs

Sunday 29 April, 2012

The Central Coast side proved too strong for the Hunter side in their first rep game of the season, played at The Springs Golf & Country Club, at Peats Ridge.

Our senior players were given a touch up in all matches, but in fairness, the majority of matches were close. Alex Pitty , evergreen Dave Willett & Ty Purnell all got up on the last hole defeating Scott, Hayes, Michael Clark and Matt Dicks 1 up. Scott Ford defeated Chad Vesper on the 17th, Dave "killer' Morgan accounted for Kymble Pascoe 3/2 and Brent Soutar was untroubled by Anthony Lucas, winning 6/5.

The shortage of Colts in the district forced the selectors to play juniors Tom Bateman & Zac Leach above their fighting weight, with both players going down by the margin of 3/2, to Ethan Forsyth & Adam Barnes. Adrian Chomiszak, made a return to the rep scene and proved his talent with a fine 4/2 win over Jason Butt.

A late withdrawal of Greg Wyper (crook back and ailment which appears to be prevalent amongst Kurri golfers) was a late withdrawal from the Veterans, forcing Ross Banks to fill in at late notice. Ross went down 6/4 to Trevor Walker, but had to use foreign clubs supplied by Dave Parkinson. Ken Roe enjoyed his stoush with Mr Consistent Jack Parker who was victorious 2 up and Bryan Gulliver, who is still on a high after an ace at Maitland on Thursday, continued his form with a well earnt 3/2 win over Mick Bowditch.

The juniors were our redemption, saving the selectors from total embarassment. Dylan Perry led the way with a 4/2 win over Rob Hogan. Dyl was three under par at the turn and wrapped the match up with two holes remaining. Will Barnett had an excellent win over Zac Churcher 3/2 and Hayden Gulliver had his usual comfortable win by 3/2 margin over Ben Saunders. Brady Benkovic & Jack Clark, playing their first full rep match in the big time, acquitted themselves with creditable squared matches against Reece Oliver & Chris Gray. Benny Stokes found James Dennis too hot on the day and went down 4/2.

The Central Coast have now won three years in a row and with the match next year being played on their home turf, the Hunter will be looking for a much need against the odds win.

NEWCASTLE WIN PR WEST SHIELD (again).

The Hunter River rep team were valiant in defeat against a classy Newcastle side, on Sunday 26 June, 2011, hosted by one of our smaller Clubs, Paterson. The hard working Royal Patto boys certainly put on a show of country hospitality. For a community of 400 people the facility is a credit to the town.

The course was enjoyed by those visiting players who took up the challenge, but the veiled criticism, by one player in the local paper, was unwarranted. Quality golfers should adapt to any course and be able to play to the conditions.

As usual a contingent of Newcastle players, got lost and passed straight through Paterson and were well on their way to Gresford, when called back. Newcastle DGA intends to invest in GPS' for their travelling golfers.

Once again Newcastle have their name engraved on the P.R. West Shield, with a fine win by 11 matches to 7.

Australian rep Jake Higginbottom led the way for the Newcastle seniors, with a comfortable 4/3 win over Steve Jones, after being one down at the turn. Chris Smith accounted for Fluff Clark 2/1 and Justin Ely won 3/2 over Ads McKenzie, whilst Mark Ellison and Glen Marcheff fought it out for a squared result. For the Hunter Mark Hale  won 3/2 over Callan O'Reilly and Craig Melville, who was a late call up to the team, won 2/1 over Darren Searl.

Our Colts went down in all 3 matches by convincing margins. Nathan Waters could consider himself unlucky, when his opponent Daniel Buyers opened with 3 consecutive birdies on the first three holes to go 3 down, which was the final score. Matt Hopley, who received a caning, never gave up even when he had Craig Avery dormie 7, he eagled the long par 4 12th hole, to extend the match a further hole.

The Hunter Vets were the only bright spot of the day when they were victorious in 2 of their 3 matches. A depleted Newcastle Senior, due to Masters Pennants, had to call in "Dad's Army" of Peter Collins, Frank Musgrave & Tony "Bones" Jones. Winners for the Hunter were Bryan Gulliver & James HOGG, whilst Andrew Hamilton went down to the evergreen Musgrave.

Sparra Gulliver led the way for our juniors with a 5/4 win over McKinley Sullivan along with "lefty" Will Barnett who hung on to defeat Isiah Wolferstan, a former Hunter boy, 1up. Dylan Perry managed to square his match after being behind for most of the 18 holes while Tom Bateman, Seagull Gulliver and Ben Stokes went down by close margins.

ARTIE MOLLETT SHIELD - played at Dungog

                 Sunday 1 May, 2011 

Following the inability of the Central Coast DGA to host this prestigious inter district match, it was transferred to the idyllic country setting of the Dungog Golf course, where the only noise to be heard was the sound of farm animals, birds and patrons on the Club balcony.

The condition of the course, was tip top and could only be paralleled to the quality of the country hospitality provided by the volunteers in the kitchen.

The only drawback to the day was the our side went down by 10 matches to 8 to allow the Central Coast to retain the Shield for another year.

Through 9 holes the Central Coast held a commanding lead and had the engravers ready to inscribe the Shield.

A rear guard fightback from the Hunter juniors and seniors had the Central Coast officials sensing that victory could be snatched from their grasp. Central Coast needed to win only two matches from the remaining 10, to claim victory, and the remaining Hunter players almost pulled off a Houdini escape, winning 7 of the matches and just fell short of victory.

Best for our Senior players was Gary Mears who tied his match with Trevor Walker, whilst In the Colts the erratic Matt Hopley managed to salvage a draw, against Nathan Miller, after drowning his Pro V1 in the dam on the first hole.

In the Juniors, Anthony Bentley, playing his first rep match fought hard against Reece Oliver, going down 2 & 1. Juniors to win their matches were Junior Champion Tom Bateman, 6 & 4, Dylan Perry 2 & 1, Brodyn Gargan by the same margin.

Brent Watson made a welcome return to rep golf with a classy 2 & 1 win over John Fitz, while newcomer Steve Jones won 3 & 2 over stalwart Dave Willett and Ads McKenzie was too good for Ty Purnell, 2 & 1. Team captain Michael Clark was victorious, 2 & 1 over former Hunter player Jamie Stephen. Killer Morgan, also a former Hunter player came up with a win over Kymble Pascoe by 1 hole.

For the next two years this match will be hosted by the Central Coast.

COL JOHNSTON SHIELD 2010

After the initial washout of the event which was to be played at Bulahdelah early November, the selected team were toey to play in the matchplay series, which had been re-scheduled to Wingham.

In the first of three nine hole sprints, the Hunter side drew the perennial favourites Newcastle. In a very even match it came down to the number one players where Hunter's Will Barnett edged out Rory Potter, one up on the final hole to break the deadlock. Attesting to the closeness was that  all other winning margins were no worse the 2 & 1.

In the corresponding match Lower North Coast & Central Coast drew 3 1/2 each.

Our second match was against Central Coast and after the first four matches it was tied up at two all. The top three of Brodie, Hayden & Will came to the fore with quality wins to secure a 5 - 2 winning margin. Brodyn Gargan lost his match one down when he lost a hole for using his mobile phone, when his opponent enquired what the cricket score was. Lesson learnt.

Meanwhile Newcastle came back from the early defeat to record a 5 1/2 to 1 1/2 to be sitting in second place.

Sunday morning saw the Hunter side up against the locals, Lower North Coast, and could not afford to take the opposition lightly.

This proved the case when our number 7 Jack Clark and number 6 Joel Troy both went down on the last hole to opponents on much higher handicaps. The games were tied up at 2 all when Ben Stokes (2/1) and Brodyn Gargan (4/2) won their matches. Stubbsy Benkovic lost his first match going down 2/1, providing the locals with a 3 - 2- lead with two matches still on the course and an upset was on the cards.

Hayden Gulliver, played a Captain's knock with a fine 3/2 win to square the games, and was followed in shortly thereafter by Will Barnett with a 2/1 win to provide a 4 - 3 team win and the Col Johnston Shield.

Newcastle edged out the Central Coast 4 1/2  -2 1/2 to take second placing.

For the Hunter Will Barnett playing at number 1 was undefeated, whilst on the other side of the ledger Jack Clark lost all 3. To his credit he honoured the team pledge to do 100 push ups if any player lost all three.

On the trip home the boys entertained themselves with countless renditions of the chorus to the Smokie tune Living Next Door to Alice, a song that was a hit before they were all born. Even Hayden was seen to lip sync a few words.

Full match results are listed below.

NSW COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS & INTER DISTRICT TEAMS

The Hunter River team has taken second place in the NSW Inter District Teams event on the back of standout performance by Mark Hale, who shot 141 (70 - 71) to be equal runner up to Belmont's Chris Smith (139) for the Country Championship.

The event was played at the Queanbeyan Golf Course over the first weekend of November, the side finishing just 4 strokes behind our neighbours, Newcastle.

The only real blemish was an uncharacteristic opening round of 81 by Kymble Pascoe of Muswellbrook, who  made amends with a closing round of 68. An early night on Saturday evening was instrumental to his improvement.

Our junior side did not fare so well finishing in equal 7th position, on 304, 21 shots behind the Newcastle junior side, providing that District with the double. Best for the juniors was Dylan Perry of Muswellbrook on150.

Hunter River vs Newcastle

Peter West Shield

After the walloping received in our first rep match against the Central Coast, the Hunter side made amends by taking their nemesis the strong Newcastle team, to the wire at Charlestown Golf Club.

The Hunter side were defending the Peter West Shield after their glorious victory in 2009 at Kurri. Towards the latter stages of the match it looked like an upset was on the cards, and at worst a draw. Officials on both sides were not game to call a result, in case of finishing with egg on their face.

The final result, a win to Newcastle by the margin of 10 - 8 was indicative of the closeness. A close scrutiny of the results reveals nine of the eighteen matches finished on the last hole. Four of them finished squared and five other matches decided on the 18th.

With only two matches on the course it was Newcastle holding a slender 9 - 7 lead and the Hunter were in the box seat. Mark Hale playing at number one had a mini choke after being 3 up with 5 to play. Coming to the eighteenth he maintained a one hole lead but capitulated, taking a horrific double bogey to lose the hole and halve his match against the big hitting Mark Ellison.

His playing partner junior Nathan Waters was also one up teeing off on the last  hole but suffered a "Greg Norman moment" when his opponent Clayton Bridges drained a thirty foot snake on the final hole, to square the match.

Congratulations to juniors Brad Bastick and Hayden Gulliver scoring fines wins in their first rep matches.

Special thanks to Life Member Bob McKenzie who stepped into the breach as motivator, when other members of committee were unavailable due to social commitments.

The team are all fired up for the return match next year, with a strong rumour it will be played at Kurri.

Hunter River vs Central Coast

Artie Mollett Shield 2010

An understrength District side went into the annual match against the Central Coast DGA with hopes of dishing up another thrashing, particularly as it was being played on home turf at Branxton. The euphoria of the victory in 2009 at Wyong, was not quite as obvious after the Central Coast avenged their loss in no uncertain terms.

The local side was thumped to the tune of 13½ matches to 4½ close to our biggest ever loss.

At the half way mark there was no indication of what lay ahead. After 9 holes we led in 3 matches were square in 3 matches and 1 down in 5 matches. Things changed dramatically as match after match came off the course in favour of the visitors. In fact with three matches remaining on the course the Hunter side had only 1½ matches to its credit, that being senior Ross Banks with a creditable halved match against Norm Hollis and team captain Fluff Clark, playing in the colts division, won his match 3 & 1.

A forlorn Dave Parkinson, was not doing his usual, darting from hole to hole, spurring on his players followed by a cloud of smoke, but sought solace in a glass on the club balcony.

Thankfully the top 3 senior players Mark Hale, Andrew Partridge and Scott Hayes won their matches and made the final score a little more respectable.

The Seniors returned the best result, drawing 3 apiece, Colts went down 2 - 1, Masters down by 2½ - ½ and the Juniors down 6 - 0.

Unfortunately the majority of our current string of juniors were at South West Rocks for the Jack Newton Masters event, and the team was made up of the players of the future. In all they acquitted themselves to the best of their ability and will be better for the experience.

The full match results are listed below.

We now look forward to regrouping to meet Newcastle at Charlestown on the 27 June, 2010,and salvaging something for the year.

Bob Robards, President of the Central Coast, has recently stood down as councillor to the NSWGA after 12 years. Bob will be remembered for never taking a backward step and calling it he saw it, providing many a light moment at dour meetings.

From the many friends you have made during your long association with the Hunter River, we wish you all the best and look forward to catching up with you at the match next year.

Inter District & Country Championship - Murrumbidgee Golf Club

Saturday & Sunday, 7 & 8 November, 2009

The District selectors gamble in picking a youthful team to represent at the Country Championships almost paid dividends. The Senior team was made up of 3 senior stalwarts, bolstered by two of our up & coming juniors Cameron Benkovic and Connor Walton.

The Junior side was made up of three juniors who have been in hot form of late, particularly Nathan Waters.

The team travelled to Canberra on the Friday and took the opportunity to get a feel for the course with a practice round.

With a late hit off on Saturday, the team enjoyed a sleep in on Saturday morning, then prepared for golf at their leisure.

The players really jumped out of the box scoring brilliantly early, to the point where one official was having premature thoughts of a victory. Four holes out from home on Saturday, and the Senior team were looking at possibly being overnight leaders, the worst score being one over par. But then the gremlins set in and shots were frittered away.

In the wash up at the half way mark, the team finished on 291, in third position, seven strokes in arrears.

On Sunday morning the team were first off, having the best of conditions, before the heat set. Unfortunately, the players couldn't make any improvement on their scores of the preceding day, and at the conclusion finished in 5th position, 22 shots behind the Northern Rivers team.

The Country Champion was Luke Henwood, from the Maclean Golf Club, who finished on 138, 6 under par.

 The junior team played a similar game to the senior counterparts, scoring well early and dropping vital shots towards the end of their opening round.

Nathan Waters drained a snake on his 11th hole to fight back to even par, but dropped 3shots over the final holes for an opening 75. Dylan Perry took a double bogey on the 14th hole after finishing dead behind a large tree to go to 6 over, but dragged it back with two birdies to finish 4 over. Nick Gulliver, played valiantly but a snowman (8) on the second hole, saw him fall away for an opening 88. At he end of day one, the juniors were in 7th position, 7 shots behind.

On Sunday, it was the same story for the juniors, as the seniors, with only Nathan Waters returning a respectable 79, whilst both Dylan and Nick shot their worst rounds for some time.

Overall the junior team finished in 10th place, behind the Central West team.

Overall it was a creditable performance for our teams. No doubt the younger brigade will benefit from the experience.

The junior Country Champion was Newcastle golfer Kris Mayan on 140, 4 under par.

HUNTER MAKES IT TWO OUT OF TWO

The District side completed the daily double in their annual representative matches, making 2009 a memorable year for the Association. After a comprehensive win against Central Coast in May, the side faced up to their nemesis in the Newcastle team, at Kurri on Sunday 28 June, 2009. In fact, our first victory in many years against Newcastle was at the Kurri course in 2003. Astute selections by the selectors, gave the District hope that the 2003 dose might be repeated in 2008. And so it did as the day panned out.

Normally, in our match against Newcastle, at the halfway mark our side usually holds a slender lead, only to be run down over the closing stages. On Sunday the shoe was on the other foot, with Newcastle holding a 9 to 7 lead, with 2 matches square. Over the closing holes, sensing a victory, District Captain Dave Parkinson, tacked at the rate of knots, from match to match, encouraging his players.

Over the concluding 9 holes our players maintained their advantage, and picked up further matches to win the P.R. West Shield 10 matches to 8.

Veteran Rob Logue was 3 down at the turn and fought back against Peter Colllins to win 2 and 1. The other meritorious comeback was junior Nick Gulliver who came back from 2 down after 9 holes to win 1 up. Nick siezed on every of his opponent's errors like a seagull on a chip, to whittle away the lead and win the match.

Andrew Wyper, playing on his home course, was expected to win comfortably, but had to birdie the final two holes, to win 2 up. On the final hole Andrew lay 30 feet from the pin, putting for a birdie, with his opponent in the hole for a par 5. A three putt would see the loss of hole and square his match. On two occasions he had to step away from his putt due to inconsiderate bystanders yapping on the side of the green. On the third occasion he settled down over the putt and calmly stroked it into the hole for a birdie.

Newcastle were bolstered by the return of former rep player, veteran Snow Gorton, but he came up against an in form Chris Ford, who played above himself to square the match.

Overall convincing wins by the Senior and Junior divisions paved the way for the win. District official are now seriously considering the locking the match in at Kurri every second year, when we host it.

Congratulations to the Newcastle players, officials and their wives, for the gracious manner in which they accepted their unexpected loss.

In his acceptance speech, District Captain Michael "Fluff" Clark, put the double win down to the change in team uniform, with a move away from the regular sky blue shirts to the navy /black variety.

HUNTER REP SIDE IN BOILOVER WIN

The astute Hunter River selectors introduced new blood into the rep team and came up with a winning formula in their annual match against the Central Coast DGA for the Artie Mollett Shield. Since the last match the Central Coast have loosened the purse strings and provided a new shield following the demise of the original trophy, which had suffered heavily from the many trips between the Districts, and being stored under a bed since its inception in 1982.

On what started out a breezy day soon deteriorated when the blustery westerly winds hit making golfing conditions very difficult. Several players from both sides lost their caps to the water holes when the wind blew them off.

At the half way mark the the Hunter side held a slender one match margin. The Seniors were tied at 3 matches each, Juniors were up 4/2, Colts up 2 1/2 to a 1/2 and the Veterans down in all 3 matches. If history was any guide, the norm would be that the Hunter side would get run down over the final nine holes. This was not to be.

Into the second nine the Hunter side fought on grimly to edge ahead and earn a meritorious win.

With six matches still in the course Central Coast held a 2 match lead, and their leading official offering to call off the remaining games and claim the win. When Hunter squared it up at 7 all he was seen nervously pacing the clubhouse and eventually proceeded onto the course to witness the action.

From that point on it was all Hunter taking the Shield 11 matches to 7, a convincing win.

Our juniors provided the backbone of the win, taking 5 of their matches and halving the other. Special mention should be made of Mitch Butler, who has reaped the reward of conscientious practice, whilst the diminutive Nathan Waters fought back to win his match, after being down early.

Matt Kelly, who was behind in his match till the last hole, provided the gallery with an "Larry Mize" finish by chipping in from 40 metres from left of the green, to win the hole and halve his match.

In the old timers division James Hogg, maintained the coolness of a poker player, to fight on and claim a well deserved square.

Newcomer Eli Richardson playing his first rep game, was played at number one for the Colts and comfortably won his match 3 & 1, whilst Mac Dawson backed up with another solid win.

For the A graders, regular members Mark Hale, Andrew Partridge and Glen Marcheff won their matches, whilst Michael Clark, who led by two holes with three to go succumbed to the persistent Dave Willett, to go down on the last hole. Dave has been representing the Central Coast for over 20 years and on current form will be around for some years.

Once the Shield is engraved it will be handed on to the "caretaker" Bob McKenzie for safe keeping.

Thanks to the Central Coast team and officials for the hospitality extended and to Wyong for making their excellent course available.

Full results:

JUNIOR FOUR WAY - COL JOHNSTON SHIELD - STEELWORKS - 8/9 NOVEMBER, 2008

The District "apprentice" juniors confirmed the strength of golf in the Vallley when they were undefeated in the round robin match play event for the Col Johnston Shield, hosted by the Newcastle District at Shortland Waters.

The boys won their first match 4/3 against Lower North Coast on Saturday evening, then returned to dish up the same medicine to the Central Coast side on Sunday morning.

The final round was against Newcastle where the boys really lifted for a magnificent 5 ½ to 1 ½ victory over the normally strong host side.

It appears the next wave of District juniors are coming through which augurs well for golf in our District.

Adrian Chomiszak of Branxton was selected to attend the NSWGA Talented Athletes Camp in 2009.

Col Johnston Shield Winners:                    Hunter River DGA

                        Best Players:                        TAP Selections:

Central Coast DGA:                        Jason Butt                        Jason Butt

Hunter River DGA:                        Matt Butler                        Adrian Chomiszac

Lower North Coast DGA:                        Andrew Samson                        Andrew Samson & Ben Mason

Newcastle DGA:                        Nat Barnes                        Nat Barnes & Beau Macdonald

NEWCASTLE TAKES WEST SHIELD AGAIN 

A chilly morning greeted the players to the Merewether course for the annual inter district match against the Newcastle DGA.

Originally scheduled or a 9.00 am hit off the match was brought forward to 7.45 am, which in hindsight was a brilliant move by the innovative Newcastle committee, ensuring all players were safely in the Clubhouse when the afternoon storm swept through. 

The Newcastle team swept through the Hunter side like a dose of Epsom salts to clean up by the margin of 13 ½ matches to 4 ½. 

Our senior six lost all matches, colts went down  2 matches to 1, old timers lost 2 matches to 1 and the juniors were best overall performers, going down 3 ½ to 2 ½. 

Mention should be made of Nick Gulliver, who came in as a late replacement for Luke Gageler, and won his first major District match 3 & 2.

Andrew Marriott won his match, 2 up, but almost succumbed after leading by 5 holes with as many to play and Daniel Rigby fought bravely to square the only match out of the 18 contests. 

Following the loss, Vice President Bob McKenzie, who will lead our team (to be selected) into the regionals, has sworn there will be a marked improvement in performances under his leadership and motivational talks. 

The full results are listed below.

Hunter River vs Central Coast

Murrurundi - 26/27 April 2008

The Hunter District went down to the Central Coast in their annual match for the Artie Mollett Shield, which was staged at the picturesque Murrurundi Golf Course. Due to the extensive travel to be undertaken by the Central Coast team the match commenced on Saturday with a 9 hole 4Ball format, followed by the 18 hole individual matches on the Sunday morning.

The Hunter team went into the match confident as the majority of the Central Coast team had never experienced sand greens. The plan to ply the visitors with Murrurundi's favourite drop Green Ginger wine, on Saturday came apart when the club ran out of stock early in the evening.

Central Coast won the match 15 1/2 games to 11 1/2 games. The 4 match margin does not indicate the closeness of the result as 7 matches were halved. In 4 of those matches the Hunter players were 1 up going down the last and only to stumble at the post and draw their game.

To make matters worse Chris Ford was holding a slight advantage over his opponent, when he was crowned on the scone by a wayward Central Coast golf ball. He never recovered from the blow and succumbed to the pain eventually losing his match 3 & 2.

The adage "from the penthouse to the outhouse" reverberated around the Clubhouse after Martin Smith copped a 6 & 5 hiding at the hands of Central Coast captain Peter Sliwinski. Marty was on a high after winning his match against Newcastle late last year, then backed up last Sunday to win the District Sand Greens Championship at Merriwa. The selector will no doubt take this result into account when the next rep team comes up for selection.

The efforts and hospitality extended to players and officials cannot go without mention. The small club provided all meals for the 50 odd players and officials as well as providing a courtesy bus compliments of Ferguson Coaches to ferry all players and officials to and from the Club. 

BAKER TRINDER SHIELD 2008 AT MOREE GOLF CLUB

The Hunter River junior team relinquished their grip on the Baker Trinder Shield at Moree over the weekend of 29 & 30 March, 2008.

After recording two excellent wins in their matches on Saturday against Western and Central North, the team were comfortably positioned to take the Shield once again in their final match against the local side North West. The side could have lost the match 4/3 and still defended the Shield, by winning on points for.

Alas this wasn't to be with the local team causing an upset and winning by 5 matches to 2 and taking the coveted Shield.

Our team were gracious in defeat and the win by the North West side will be a boost to golf in the north of the State.